US senator apologizes for Lindsey Graham’s ‘appalling’ outburst at Danish PM

BRUSSELS — A top Democratic lawmaker has issued a formal apology to Mette Frederiksen after Republican Senator Lindsey Graham lashed out at the Danish prime minister in Munich earlier this month, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.

“I am writing today to extend my apologies for my role on the … delegation of U.S. senators and to register my strong disagreement with the remarks made during our meeting with you,” Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) wrote in the missive, dated Feb. 24. “The conduct of our delegation did not represent my views regarding our alliance.”

Graham, a staunch ally of Donald Trump, sparked outrage by berating Frederiksen during a closed-door meeting between Danish officials and U.S. lawmakers on the margins of the Feb. 13-15 Munich Security Conference. The dustup followed repeated threats by the U.S. president to annex Greenland in January.

The South Carolina senator began the meeting by repeatedly cursing, according to a Congressional aide briefed on the matter, who recounted how he told Frederiksen: “Who gives a fuck who owns Greenland?” 

Graham then reportedly branded the Danish premier a “little lady.” The exchange was enough to prompt Slotkin to walk out of the meeting within the first 10 minutes, said the Congressional aide, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. It was “appalling” and “wildly inappropriate,” the aide added. Details of the meeting were first reported by Puck.

In response to the letter, Graham doubled down, telling POLITICO: “I’ll say again, I don’t give a crap who owns Greenland.”

“The main point for me about Greenland is that President Trump would like to fortify the island to make NATO’s arctic defenses stronger,” he said. “In my view, the response from European countries and officials in Greenland have missed the big picture.”

The remarks underscore the persisting deep tensions between Washington and Copenhagen even after Trump formally withdrew his territorial claim to Greenland late last month. The letter also reflects just how much internal pushback the U.S. president faced in his campaign for the self-ruling Arctic territory — a factor widely assumed to have played a part in his subsequent backpedaling.

“The threats of using military force to take over … Greenland, and indeed the tone taken with you in our meeting, do not reflect the views of the majority of Americans,” Slotkin wrote. “Threats to invade sovereign territory are unnecessary and fundamentally counterproductive to Americans’ safety and security.”

But the Democratic lawmaker acknowledged that the transatlantic relationship has fundamentally shifted since Trump’s push to grab the self-ruling Danish territory — a view shared by many European capitals.

“I know that the events of the last few months have rattled Europeans — and potentially changed our relationship for the foreseeable future,” she said. “Nonetheless I still believe that our countries … are bound together by more than just occasional shared interest, but by shared values.”

Frederiksen’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by POLITICO.

Felicia Schwartz contributed reporting from Washington.